


Kix Can't Look After Himself...

by Charity_Angel



Series: Tales from Kamino (and beyond) [4]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Tumblr Prompt, clone feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-11
Updated: 2016-11-08
Packaged: 2018-08-21 21:08:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8260576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charity_Angel/pseuds/Charity_Angel
Summary: ...so Jesse does it for him.Extremely crappy title for a tumblr ficlet. Expect fluff.





	1. ...so Jesse does it for him

**Author's Note:**

> Stumbled across [this post](http://dakt37.tumblr.com/post/151167141234/concept-jesse-carrying-kix-around-thats-it) on [dakt37](http://dakt37.tumblr.com)'s tumblr:
> 
> Concept: Jesse carrying Kix around. That’s it. That’s the concept. Just Jesse picking up Kix and carrying him around. I _need_ it.

Kix had fallen asleep at his desk. Again. Every damn time, after a battle. It was like he didn’t know how to look after himself.

Jesse sighed and stacked the scattered datapads neatly at one side of the desk. Then he scooped Kix up in his arms and carried him out the door and down the corridor to the barracks.

It probably said something about how often this happened that no-one he met said a word. Or, indeed, made a sound. Not even Kenobi, who studiously pretended to see nothing (because if he saw nothing, then he had no reason to say anything to anyone else about suspicions of impropriety in the ranks).

He put Kix in his own bunk, as always, and stripped off his boots. Jesse then removed his own armour and boots before sliding onto the narrow bunk and curling himself around his partner with the ease of long practice - they might not fit the bunk as well now as they had at seven years old, but after six years it seemed cold and empty without Kix there with him.

With the scent of antiseptic and bacta tickling his nose, Jesse finally allowed himself to sleep too.


	2. ...so Fives does it when Jesse can't

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which someone else has to take care of Kix.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a line in this chapter written by zinjadu. And this chapter is entirely their fault too.

Jesse stared helplessly as Kix slumped over at his desk. He _hated_ this. Being injured sucked, but not being able to look after Kix was infinitely worse. He snapped his fingers gently and Ryll appeared. Poor kid was obviously on Sickbay rotation for tonight. Again. He seemed to pull a lot of Sickbay rotation. Probably because Kix was good to him, after everything.

He gestured towards Kix. "Comm Fives, tell him it's time. He'll know what you mean."

Ryll might have his issues, but being slow on the uptake was not one of them. He went from completely baffled to total understanding in about a second flat. "Sure thing, sir."

As he went off to use the comm, Jesse was left wondering (not for the first time) how a kid that bright had got off Kamino without a name.

 

.oOo.

 

Fives appeared within minutes and came to Jesse first.

"You doing okay, vod?"

Jesse sighed. "I'll at least sleep once I know he's okay."

Fives shook his head. "You two. Sleep. Heal. He'll only worry more if you don't."

"Vor entye, vod'ika," Jesse said. His eyes were heavy - Kix had him on the good stuff - and he only had to keep awake for a little while longer now.

Fives clasped a hand to his good shoulder briefly, then left. He wasn't as practised at lifting Kix out of a chair as Jesse was, but he managed easily enough and headed out the door. Jesse finally stopped fighting the drugs: Kix would be fine in Fives' care.

 

.oOo.

 

Kix clearly thought he was a sneaky bastard. Kix had clearly not considered that his bedmate was also a sneaky bastard, and an ARC trooper.

"Don't even think about it," Fives said without even opening his eyes.

The movement stopped. "I have a job to do, Fives," Kix protested.

Fives did open his eyes then, purely so that he could glare at Kix in the dimness of the night-cycle barrack. "Right now, your job is to sleep. If you're needed, Ryll will comm you. That's what the comm is for, you know."

"I need to check on things. Ryll isn't a medic."

"Kix, you've been on the go for two days. Ryll will be just fine. Now come back to bed. Or take my bunk, whatever. But we both know you sleep better with someone else, and I'm pretty sure you want to be functional in the morning."

Kix looked trapped. "I don't want to put you out..."

Fives sighed. Heavily. "You're not putting me out. Damn it Kix, just accept the help. When you don't it ruins my sleep!"

"It's ruining everyone's sleep," Echo grumbled from the next bunk over.

"Kix, shut the kriff up and go back to sleep," Rex ordered. "Now."

Taken aback by an actual _order_ given in the barracks, Kix slunk back into bed, curling himself into Fives without any further protest.

"That's better," he said softly. "Now, sleep, and you can see Jesse when he's awake. He looked pretty sleepy. You got him on the good stuff?"

Kix gave a sleepy noise of assent. Fives draped his free arm over his brother, offering what comfort he could in an effort to make Kix feel safe. Seriously, looking after a medic was more work than Jesse made it look. It was just as well they all loved him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ryll has a story. It'll probably get shared at some point.
> 
> Mando'a stuffs:
> 
>  _vod_ = brother  
>  _vor entye_ = thank you (loosely)  
>  _vod'ika_ = little brother


	3. Kix III: Attack of the Clones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Kix is forced to do things against his will, again, and the author chooses a really inappropriate title for Chapter 3.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is also zinjadu's fault. I promise this is totally finished. It _is_.
> 
> No, I wouldn't believe me, either.

The ship was unusually bereft of senior clones. Granted, it was early in the morning, but Echo was usually up by now, and Rex. And, given they had wounded, Kix was a particularly notable absence. Intrigued, he headed down to the barracks and decided to stick his head around the door, see what was going on.

He blinked. Maybe he had been awake too long, compiling reports on the latest furbar for the council and senate. Maybe he was starting to hallucinate.

Nope. Still there. He tilted his head, trying to see exactly who was involved in this _thing_. Echo, Hardcase. Rex's blond head peeked out from under Dipstick. A glimpse of Jesse's tattoo. Fives was undoubtedly the dark head Anakin could only just see the top of. Anakin was fairly sure there was at least one person he couldn't see properly.

Echo lifted his head sleepily and blinked in the bright light pouring in from the corridor.

"Um..." Anakin waved a hand at what could only be described as a pile of clones, leaving the question unspoken.

"Kix," Echo said, as if it explained everything. It probably did. Sickbay was overflowing with injured vod'e. Anakin wondered just how many of them had been absolutely necessary to keep the medic down, and how many of them were there just to reinforce the point.

The pile looked kind of inviting. Fives was snoring softly, but the rest were just sleepy snuffles and warmth; their affection for each other bleeding into the Force. He had heard tell that younglings in the crèche slept like this sometimes too, safe and among friends.

"Come join us," Echo suggested, laying his head back on Dipstick's thigh. "No armour."

Anakin stepped inside, but eyed his right gauntlet warily.

"We don't care that you're part clanker under that, Anakin," Echo told him. "But armour hurts. Get it off and sleep."

It was the use of his name that persuaded him, his fingers undoing the clasps before Echo had finished his piece. He put the gauntlet down on Echo's bunk, followed by the rest of his armour and his robes. His boots he tucked just under the bed. Echo's eyes followed him, and he made a vague noise of approval before the eyes closed and his breathing evened out.

He found a spot where he could tuck himself in without disturbing anyone too much. His feet slipped under Rex's arm and he rested his left hand on the streaked fuzz of Kix's hair. 

"Night, _vod_ ," Jesse whispered, the first indication that he was even awake. His hand stole out and curled around the fingers of Anakin's prosthetic hand, making Anakin wish he had better sensation than the bare minimum.

"Night, Jesse," he whispered back, squeezing delicately.

As soon as he allowed his eyes to close, Anakin was asleep, safe and warm with his brothers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dipstick also has a story, of sorts. His name does, at least.


	4. ...so Ahsoka does it for him

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which devious padawans are devious

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It shouldn't surprise you to hear by now that this is also adapted from an idea zinjadu fed me :)

Kix was even more insufferable as a patient than when he was ‘just’ in medic mode. Broken bones would never keep a trooper down for long, but a tib-fib fracture would do for a few days. In anyone except Kix.

Jesse had lectured him. Fives and Echo and Rex had lectured him. Just about everyone had, but their usual tactics weren’t working – mostly because he was confined to Sickbay with his patients, instead of being in the barracks. Poor Ryll was doing his best, with backup, but short of sedating Kix, things weren’t happening.

He had taken a couple of minutes to sit down when she struck. Ahsoka, confined herself due to a head injury that still had her complaining of nausea and ringing in her montrals, climbed into his lap and immediately fell asleep. Kix sighed heavily, pushed his datapad away, and curled his arms around the sleeping padawan, rearranging her so that he was comfortable.

Jesse wished he could say he had planned it with her, but the kid was much more ingenious and crafty than most people gave her credit for. She crashed out on troopers quite a bit in the field, but not on the ship, and never so blatantly as that (and she generally knew to give Kix and Jesse some modicum of privacy).

The sneak was strong in their vod’ika. Fives would be so proud.


	5. ...so Obi-Wan is does it for him

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which someone is drafted to Operation Make Kix Sleep

Jesse asked for a quiet word before he had left with the rest of the remaining troops.

“It’s Kix, sir,” he said softly. “He’ll insist on looking after everyone.”

Obi-Wan had frowned up at him. “I realise he’s injured, but isn’t that what he’s supposed to do? He’s a medic.”

Jesse had just smiled tiredly. “Unless someone makes him, he won’t eat, or sleep. He barely drinks. Eventually he’ll pass out, hurt himself more. Or he’ll make a mistake. He needs to be made to sleep, sir. To heal up.”

“I have seen you collect him before now,” Obi-Wan had said. “How would you suggest I help him?”

“On a day like today, where it’s bad? Even if you get him to lie down, he’ll try to sneak off as soon as he wakes up. He’s tried that on me and Fives before.”

Obi-Wan had raised an eyebrow. They didn’t talk about Jesse and Kix. It was one of those unspoken things, because they would doubtless be in a lot of trouble if anything got back to higher powers. But it was very well known, even among the 212th, that Jesse and Kix shared a bunk. In any and all possible interpretations.

Jesse had just shrugged. “I know. He gets a bit stupid when he has patients. Ahsoka takes care of things if she can – she just ‘accidentally’ falls asleep on him, and he won’t move her so he ends up sleeping too. He sleeps better when he has someone with him.”

He hadn’t been able to resist that. “Oh, really?”

Jesse had nodded. “He’s not slept alone since he was six: he’s not used to it. Neither of us are.”

“Six?” Obi-Wan had repeated, incredulous. Even by clone reckoning, that seemed a little young.

Jesse had smirked and shaken his head. “Shame on you, sir,” he had scolded. “Not like that. Not really. Kix moved into our barracks. We didn’t have a spare bunk so he shared mine. I never thought anything of it – Aurek and Besh already shared.”

Obi-Wan knew Aurek and Besh as long-term members of the 501st, and as being fairly unique among clones in that they were true twins. He shouldn’t be surprised to find that the clones hadn’t necessarily been properly looked after as youngsters, to even have something as simple as a bunk to themselves.

“Are you asking me to sleep with Kix?” Obi-Wan had asked shrewdly.

Jesse had shrugged. “I’m asking you to do what you feel is best, sir,” he had said. “It’s taken a few of us before now, but he might behave better for you? I just… look after him for me, sir? Please?”

“Of course, Jesse. Keep an eye on Cody for me?”

Jesse had broken into a grin. “Aye, sir. He’ll love that.”

 

.oOo.

 

Skywalker had crouched at his side. “Kix, I need you to do me a favour.”

Kix had looked up from scowling at Ryll’s shoulder. “Sir?”

“It’s Obi-Wan.” Skywalker had sighed; a long-suffering sound that Kix knew well. “You know what he’s like. He’ll try and heal too many people, not think about himself – you know, healing, eating, that kind of thing – and collapse in a corner where no-one will even know.”

Kix had eyed him carefully. “Are you asking me to sedate him, sir?”

Skywalker had shrugged. “Nothing that drastic. Just, maybe sit on him, make sure he rests when he needs to.”

He had slathered bacta on the burn. Ryll had tried not to hiss. “Sir, I’ve got patients to tend to.”

“I’ll do it, sir,” Ryll had piped up. “I mean, if you’re making me stay here anyway. Unless… do you think he’d pay much attention to me?”

The kid had sounded so resigned. He wasn’t shiny any more, but he wasn’t so old that he had lost much of his awe of the Jedi.

Skywalker had clasped Ryll’s shoulder. “It certainly can’t hurt. I’m sure you’d want to alternate your watch on the patients, so maybe you could take turns looking after Obi-Wan?”

 

.oOo.

 

Ryll was waiting when the joined forces of the 212th and 501st returned, victorious but exhausted, to wait for transport with the wounded. He hushed them, waited for Cody and Rex to organise the men, left Ahsoka to curl up on Waxer, and led them to a tent – one just about large enough for a man to stand in, but lacking the ground area of the ones they used as command centres.

“Sorry for nearly blowing it, sir,” Ryll said to Skywalker, his voice soft to avoid disturbing sleeping brothers. He was only twitching a bit, but Rex knew that meant he was tired. “Took me too long to work out what you were doing.”

Skywalker grinned and put his arm round Ryll’s shoulder. “It’s okay,” he said. “You ran with it well once you did. Did it work?”

Oh, no. Rex thought they’d been up to something – him and Jesse – just before they left camp four days earlier. But it was something that Ryll clearly understood and approved of, and that was reassuring. Despite his little issue, the kid had his head screwed on right.

Inside the tent, Kix and Obi-Wan were both fast asleep, curled around each other on a pair of sleeping mats.

“Oh yeah, it worked,” Ryll whispered.

Cody looked taken aback by the sight, but Jesse and Anakin were already stripping off their armour with the obvious intention of joining them.

Rex turned to Ryll. “Have you got someone you can wake?” he asked. “You need a break. The returning men can take over watch in a few hours: I think Jesse volunteered himself, and I’m sure General Skywalker can fulfil any duty that General Kenobi was refusing to let anyone else handle.”

Cody snorted at that, but Skywalker and Jesse seemed fairly at ease. Their little conspiracy clearly didn’t have any victims, but it would look bad if Rex didn’t make _some_ attempt to punish the clone who manipulated General Kenobi so thoroughly. Having to assist a wounded Kix seemed like punishment enough for anyone. Even Jesse.

Ryll nodded. “Have you brought back any wounded?”

“Some, but no-one who can’t wait,” Cody said. It had been an oddly bloodless battle in the end – the few who had been injured had died in the field. Those who were injured were on enough pain meds to get them through until Kix could take a look, and they had been walking wounded for over a day already. A few more hours wouldn’t hurt.

“I’ll check them over, then get Tamor to watch everyone. He’s okay, he’s only got a broken arm.”

Rex nodded his approval at the plan and let the kid go. He sighed in relief as he began stripping his own armour, and gave Cody a kick to encourage him to do the same.

“We’ll likely need an extra body to keep our two idiots down in a couple of hours or so,” he said, making it sound like a duty rather than an invitation. “Why don’t you just stay here? Your general will want to know you’re okay – it would save us having to come get you.”

“Sounds good,” Skywalker said as he rummaged in a supply crate to find an extra blanket and sleep pad or two.

Jesse finally freed himself from his leg pieces and almost sprinted to wrap himself securely around Kix. The medic made a happy sound in his sleep, and Jesse smiled indulgently.

“So, this is how you keep your medic down?” Cody asked with a touch of a smirk as he removed his vambraces.

“Sure is. It works, and it helps everyone else too,” Rex told him. “We all feel better for it.”

He too finished with his leg panels, and glanced at Skywalker. He waved his hand cheerfully, in invitation. Cody just rolled his eyes. He curled himself around Obi-Wan, who barely stirred, except to relax into the warmth behind him.

Within moments, Cody was at his back and Skywalker had curled up near Kix’s head, as was customary. This time, though, he had one hand on Kix and the other on Obi-Wan. Blankets settled over everyone, draped by an invisible set of hands, and the warmth lulled Rex into a sleep much deeper than he thought he would manage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aurek and Besh are from _[More than Brothers](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8350969)_.


	6. ... but he can look after Ryll

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ryll's backstory finally gets told (a bit)

Kix rolled his eyes and bit back the deep sigh.

“There’s honestly nothing wrong?” he asked the comlink with deep scepticism.

“Other than the fried electrics to the portside, no,” Admiral Yularen replied, his voice calm as ever. “Fear not, Major, we will have you free as soon as we can.”

Kix fought the urge to point out that they had already been trapped for over an hour, and the technicians had been promising that for some time now. That said, he probably would have noticed by now if they been ambushed by a Seppie fleet.

“It’s not so bad, sir,” Ryll said, clearly trying to be reassuring. “At least there’s not many patients, and everyone’s stable.”

It was a good point. Any brother he hadn’t managed to discharge before the electrical surge was absolutely fine (or, at least, wasn’t actively dying), and was asleep by now. Not that Kix could blame them: it had been a long few days.

That showed up the most on Ryll. The poor kid got a bit twitchy when he was tired – a persistent side-effect of the accident he had suffered on his first mission. And the more he tried to hide it, the worse it got.

The trouble was, Kix was convinced that Ryll still believed that he would be sent back to Kamino as ‘defective’. Even though Kix thought that was a shitty policy (he had lost a brother like that when they were six, and it had had a lasting impression), and was very vocal about the fact, Ryll was still worried.

Even though everyone had pointed out that Kix had never, ever sent a man home to Kamino to be executed, and he had no intention of starting. Even if the kid wasn’t well liked, and had become Kix’s apprentice (flying in the face of every reg), Fives would never forgive him if he declared CT-50-1212 unfit for any further duty. More importantly, Jesse would never forgive him.

The pair of them had been amused when they had discovered that there were brothers out there whose numbers began with ‘501’. All the more entertaining was that Ryll had come to them via the 212th in the first place, and they too had loved Ryll’s number, declaring that he had been grown for them.

Cody maintained that it was entirely coincidental that Ryll had joined their battalion. No-one believed him. Most people believed General Kenobi’s philosophy on coincidences more.

Kix had seconded him after the accident, which had happened during a joint mission. The 212th had a nasty habit of losing their medics, and no-one quite trusted that a new one wouldn’t take one look at Ryll and sign the paperwork. They had all agreed that he was best off with Kix.

Kix just wished that Ryll _believed_ it. They all worked hard, but Ryll had always volunteered for extra duties, normally in Sickbay, to prove himself. Unfortunately, that tended to make his usually mild twitches worse.

He needed to rest, and Kix knew he wouldn’t until Kix rested too. So, he slid down onto the floor, leaning against the side of his desk, and held out his free arm to Ryll.

“Come and sit down for a few minutes,” Kix suggested.

The kid looked startled by the idea, but complied. He curled into Kix’s side, his head resting on Kix’s shoulder. He was so much smaller than Jesse. It was a harsh reminder that Ryll was barely eight. He hadn’t had the time to fill out like his older brothers. He really shouldn’t have ever been out in the field – he was far too young. It was little wonder these youngsters rarely survived long: some of them weren’t even their final height by the time they were sent out onto the front lines. That just wasn’t right.

With the ability of youth that Kix (at the grand old age of eleven and a half) was growing to envy, Ryll fell asleep. Trapped as he was, Kix looked around one last time to make absolutely sure that there was nothing needed doing, no-one suddenly awake and/or in distress.

The only person who needed him right now, the only person he could help, was Ryll. And all Ryll needed him to do was sit there and let him sleep. And he could do that while he was asleep himself.


End file.
